Watch out for the Great Firing

The Great Resignation was the big story for a while. It was a time where people quit their jobs because they didn’t feel valued and because there were so many career alternatives. It was the best of times.

The Great Return followed and is still happening. The tug of war between returning to the office or working from home continues. My bet is that the hybrid model somewhere between the two will prevail. Lucky are those who have the choice of working from home or going back to the conference rooms.

Quiet Quitting adds a new dimension to the coming and going at work. Quiet quitting is about showing up but not throwing your body into the abyss of stress and losing yourself in your career. Are quiet quitters slackers or more balanced? Depends on your perspective.

What’s next? Could be The Great Firing. You heard it here first.

While you were thinking about resigning or returning or quietly quitting, organizations have been keeping track of who is contributing, who is showing up, who is part of the plan, who has potential, who drives revenue and who can help move the company forward. At the same time, for many organizations financial results are not as good as hoped. It could be time to start focusing on avoiding the Great Firing. I can feel it coming.

If you want to avoid the Great Firing step one of your plan is the simple bromide: SHOW UP. Showing up can be in the office or on the small screen on Zoom or at the brew pub on Friday afternoons with the team. It is way too easy to fire people that are invisible. I once had a CEO tell me, “It’s easier to fire one hundred people in a distant location than it is to fire my under-performing assistant who sits five feet outside my office.”

Of course, showing up isn’t enough, but it is a place to start.